Sunday School:
​All classes will be each Sunday from 9:30-10:15 or so starting January 15.
Pastor Rebecca will be teaching Children’s Sunday School, ages 4-11 in Joy Hall (church downstairs). Jenny Russell and Linell Pike will assist.
Matthew Sommons will be teaching Youth Sunday School, ages 12 and up at the parsonage barn (98 Bonnet Street). Holly O’Brien will assist Matthew. John Hess will be leading the adult class at the church conference room (upstairs).Church Service: Worship begins at 10:30 AMFirst Sunday of the Month is Communion Sunday
We are the big red church on the corner of Main and Bonnet Street Call the church 362-1555

You may call to request a meeting or visit outside of regular church office hours.​for map click here

​A child care volunteer is available each Sunday to care for toddlers through kindergarten age. The children will leave the sanctuary with the volunteer following the choir's anthem. First graders and older stay in worship and there are crayons and coloring books at the back of the sanctuary for them.

This site set up was funded by Christine Bryant in loving memory of her Dad and Mother, Paul & Pauline Todtschinder,, along with her late husband Albert Lawrence.

​On April 24/2016 RebeccaSommons was voted in as our new Pastor to take effect in July of 2016. Shown here are Rebecca, husband Matthew and daughter Natalie and Grace

​FIRST BAPTIST WELCOMES NEW PASTOR
The First Baptist Church of Manchester Center, VT is pleased to announce the arrival of our new Pastor, Rev. Rebecca Sommons, who will assume the pulpit at a Communion Worship Service on Sunday, August 7th at 10:30 am. Rev. Sommons is a recent graduate of Palmer Theological Seminary and was ordained through the sponsorship of the First Baptist Church of Lansdale, PA.
Rev. Rebecca will reside in Manchester Center with her husband, Matthew, a veteran of the United States Navy and a psychiatrist, and their two daughters: Grace, who is an incoming freshman at Houghton College in Houghton, NY; and Natalie who will enter her sophomore year at Burr and Burton.
The First Baptist Church of Manchester Center, VT, an affiliate of the American Baptist Churches of the USA and the American Baptist Churches of VT and NH, was founded in 1781 and is the oldest congregation in the Town of Manchester. First Baptist Church is a faith community that believes in studying God's Word; sharing our gifts, graces and talents; and acting as Christ's compassionate servants in and to this world.
All are enthusiastically invited to join us in welcoming Rev. Sommons and her family to the Manchester community. The First Baptist Church is located on the corner of Main and Bonnet Streets at the roundabout in Manchester Center, VT.

​SOUND SYSTEM UPGRADE

​On May 21, 2017 the vote was approved to install a new sound system, thanks to Jeremy Crumb for all your help in designing
the new system.

AND A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL WHO CAME FORWARD TO HELP PAY FOR THE EQUIMENT

​

​ RIGHT NOW MEDIA
Our church will have its own site within the Right Now Media program
where we can post services for you to watch if you are unable to attend. The email invitation has been sent. If you have any questions please contact Russ Taxter or Rebecca Sornmons.. We could use it
for our children's ministries, Bible studies and special eve

​ADULT SUNDAY CLASS IS SUPENED FOR AUG.

John Hess will be leading the adult class at the church conference room (upstairs).

​Photo Directory Dates are coming soon!
September 25 and 26, Monday and Tuesday, from 2 pm to 9 pm each day.
Here are the options for reserving your day and time.
(1) You can go to: https://booknow-lifetouch.appointment-plus.com/y4002hjp/ You will need to log in with a user name and password. (Please write it down in case you need to get back in again).

(2) You can fill out the reservation sheet below and give it to Russ or Glenna and we will register you. Be sure to tell us your preference of day and time and we’ll do our best to get that day and time for you.

(3) Starting Sunday Aug. 13, 2017, and every Sunday until September 24th, we will have our laptop here after church and we can register with you on the day and time you pick out.

Dates and times are on a first come, first serve basis.
Remember, you get a free 8 by 10 photo just for having your picture taken!

​SHARE YOUR GIFTS
Have you ever considered being a worship assistant, leading a
children's conversation, greeting people, reading scripture, playing an
instrument, singing, or giving a testimony in church? Please let us
know how the Spirit is leading you, so we can include you in the
worship services. There are sign-up sheets in the vestry.

​Adult Education Expands Horizons (John Hess)
The adult Sunday School will start again on July 2. We will meet in the upstairs conference room. We will be creating our spiritual biographies using the book "Remembering Your Story", by Richard Morgan. There will be about ten sessions, and we will not meet on the Sunday the Mary Martha group has their meeting.
We will be offering another class about forgiveness starting Thursday, July 13th, from 7 - 8 pm. The book is "The Unburdened Heart" by Suzanne Eller, and the cost for the book is $14. There are limited copies to borrow. This class will run about 12 weeks, meeting every Thursday at the church. This class will also be open to the public on a space available basis, but is limited to 15 people.

​ CELEBRATE RECOVERY
The projected launch date for the Celebrate Recovery program that will be meeting here at First Baptist has been moved to September.
Please join us in praying for more people to join the leadership team, especially men. It is important to have both men and women who can lead discussion groups. Those who have already committed to being part of the leadership team are meeting on Wednesday evenings to prepare for this ministry. Celebrate Recovery is for anyone who recognizes their brokenness (habits, hang-ups, and hurts) and would like to find healing in Christ. Please talk to Pastor Rebecca, Matthew Sommons, or Linell Pike if you would like to know more about it.

​CAMP SENTINEL
Dates for youth overnight camp programs and special events taking place at Camp Sentinel this spring and summer are on the bulletin board in the vestry. If one or more of the opportunities interest you, you can see more details at campsentinal.org. If it is your first time going, there's a scholarship that makes it half-price, and other scholarships are available as well.

The Prudential Committee thanks all of you who have done such great work as volunteers cleaning the church.

Continue in prayer asking for guardian angels to surround our men and women who are serving to protect our country and freedom. We also pray that God will guide the leaders of this world toward peace.

If there are other local troops, please let us know so we can add them to our prayer list

Why you come to church…

by Diane Roth, April 30, 2014

I don’t know why you come to church on a particular Sunday, or why you don’t. Sometimes you show up; sometimes you don’t. When you don’t, maybe it’s because you are sick or out of town or your alarm clock didn’t go off or you just can’t bear to be in a room with those particular people on this particular day. Maybe you are caught between wanting to experience God and a faith community, and the reality of what it’s really like to be a part of a faith community.

When you come, maybe it’s because you heard that lately, some of the little kids say the most hilarious things during the children’s story, and you are hoping to hear some of that. Or maybe it’s because you are reading the lessons at the service. Or – miracles of miracles there are sometimes more men in the choir than women! How often does that happen? And you want to check it out.

Or, maybe you just want to sing, at the top of your lungs. Where else can you go to sing?

Maybe you come because deep down, you are hungry for the promise in that little piece of bread and that small sip of wine/juice. Maybe you come because you need to be reminded that there is something bigger than you, that, even though things seem bleak, somehow, in the end, you need to know that you know you are loved and held by God. Maybe you come because you need courage to keep on doing good, to keep fighting the good fight. Or maybe you come because you need a hand to lift you up, and you are hoping that there will be a hand there today. Please let there be a hand there today.

If you don’t know why you come here’s a reason:

You don’t come for yourself. You come for someone else. You come for that person who needs a word, a hand up, a heart. You come for the person who needs someone to sit beside her. You come for the child who needs to be told he is smart. You come for the widow who walks in slowly; you come for the teenager who needs someone to say “You belong.” You come and you practice looking for the person, the one you are there for.

You come and you practice, so you can go back out and practice looking all week, looking for the person that God is sending to you.

Originally posted at: Faith in Community

Contributed by Glenna Taxter

From Shawn Harrington Manchester Historical Society

The first--- First Baptist Church stood on meeting house hill (site of today's Factory Point Cemetery) organized in 1781 and built in 1785. In 1833 the church relocated to its current site on the corner of Bonnet Street. Built at a cost of $2300 originally, it has been expanded and modified but remains relatively the same since as it was in 1873.
The photo at right dates from 1915 with the Elm at the Crossroads- subject of a poem written about by Walter Hard, the full text follows.
The document from 1834 documents the sale of Slip No. 2 in the new church sold to Mr. Martin Slocum of Manchester.

Of course a tree is just so much timber
Or so many cords of firewood.
The timber may make a home
Or the firewood may keep it warm.
But a tree like the elm at the crossroads
Has seen too much of life
To be just timber or firewood.
There it is with its thick trunk on the ground.
They’re chopping out the branches
And digging around the broad stump.
Count the rings.
A hundred and eight.
It could tell you a lot of history.
It was young when Factory Point was beginning.
There was the Tannery along the river
With piles of bark in the yard.
There was the woolen mill with its whirling looms,
And a dozen other mills along the stream.
It really was Factory Point.
Think of all the people who have passed that tree!
Think of all the people
Think of the slow plodding oxen with loads of goods;
Heavy creaking wagons with blocks of marble
From the quarries on Dorset Mountain;
Gay prancing horses drawing shining buggies;
Processions in somber black;
Gay parades with bands and flying banners;
Ladies walking with parasols held over quaint bonnets;
Men with high hats and tailed coats.
Statesmen, scholars, warriors, artists—
All have passed under its spreading branches.
There it lies.
Just so many cords of firewood.
Of course it had to go.
It’s a martyr to what we hope is progress.
Our rushing life cannot be stopped by a tree.
A hundred and eight years
To grow some firewood.

We are still collecting used ink cartridges and redeeming them. The proceeds will be used to build our Youth Fund for a future Conference trip. Please place your cartridges in the box on top of the piano in the vestry.